The Theater Play Through Part 5
by Labridae
Summary: The fifth part of 'the theater play through' series. Just when they thought it couldn't be any worse, the theater once again proves them wrong. Will they be able to crash and beat the game for good? "So many people knew about this game, Annie." I said. "So many people knew that this game shouldn't be trusted. Now we know that this game can't be trusted for ourselves."


_Only one more part to go after this! If you have been reading along the whole time, thanks so much! I hope you enjoy the new update, and the last part will be posted soon._

May's POV:

I was horrified. That horrible, horrible screaming sound that was still coming from the office just startled me so badly. I stared at the TV, and didn't even care that ANTM was on. I just couldn't do anything. I couldn't move, I couldn't think, all that I knew at that very moment was the screaming. I'm relieved that Annie still had her wits about her to get me out of there, or else I'm not sure what would've happened. I looked over to Annie who was now curled up with a pillow in her lap, her eyes focused with a laser like intensity on the TV screen. She must've been really upset as well, having to go through all of this with me. I turned back to the TV, and continued to think. She was right; all we had to do now, all we could do now is wait it out.

I looked over to the part of the couch where Annie was sitting. Next to her was her iPhone, which was facing screen up. The screen was lit up with notifications, all from various Reddit users. I picked up her phone, and she didn't even react. I unlocked her phone and opened up Reddit, and her mailbox had 50 new messages. Curious, I read one that was from a user named Amonicon.

From: Amonicon To: AnnieChiri

_Annie! It's been a while since you posted last, and I just wanted to check in to see if you were ok. I really hope that you are ok, because that game cannot be trusted. Please post soon; we're all really worried! _

I scrolled and chose another one.

From: MCEdits To: AnnieChiri

_Annie, please stay away from that game? Do you even read creepypasta? (I know most of that stuff is fake, but… I'm not too sure about this one.) Please stay safe!_

Finally, one particular message stood out to me. The subject line was written in all caps, bolded, underlined, you name it. It was obvious that this person wanted Annie to read this, so I clicked on it anxious to see what would come up.

From: Muchcake To: AnnieChiri

_Annie, whatever you do stay away from that game, and make sure May stays away from it as well. My older brother used to have a friend that had an original copy of the game, and let's just say that it did not end well for him… Do not play it, just please get rid of it safely! Oh, just a final note. If you do decide to get rid of the game, DO NOT SMASH IT. I cannot stress this enough! Whatever you do, do not smash the game! The swirly head man; he gets angry if you smash his game, and he will come and find you. Please, please, please stay safe; we all are rooting for you and May! – MC._

I looked up from the phone, and my head was buzzing with questions. What happened if I did smash it? How in the world did all of these people know about The Theatre? Is it a real life creepypasta that actually has some truth to it? Why have I never heard of it before? I shook my head and sat up. All right, this has gone too far. We have to fight back and get rid of this game as soon as possible before something terrible happens! According to Muchcake, something happened to the people who played this game, but I wasn't about to let this happen to us. I shut off the phone, and poked Annie, who had miraculously fallen asleep, her hand falling over the arm of the sofa. She sat bolt upright.

"What's happening?" She asked, with a panicked expression on her face.

"Nothing," I responded, in a low voice. "But I read the Reddit messages that you've been receiving, and we have a problem." She sat up and faced me.

"What did they all say?" She asked, picking up her phone and opening Reddit.

"So many people knew about this game, Annie." I said. "So many people knew that this game shouldn't be trusted. Now we know that this game can't be trusted for ourselves, we really have to do something."

She nodded, with tears in her eyes. "Maybe the commenters will say how to stop the game from doing something worse," she said. "It's worth a shot." I moved closer to her so I could see the screen as well. She read message after message on her phone, reading the many kind words of encouragement from her followers. Once in a while she received a message that she would read aloud, that contained some information on the game itself or how to stop it. "Okay, here's another one that seems like it would be useful," she said. This one was from a user called OmahaNinjaCat.

"That's an awesome username," I said. She shushed me, and read what they said.

From: OmahaNinjaCat To: AnnieChiri

_Annie, I did some digging and that game that you guys are about to play is called The Theatre, and it was released by a game company called Salida Software back in the 1990s or late 1980s I think. The game was released as a sort of practice for coding and programming, and they didn't expect to sell so many copies of the game. Soon after, complaints were coming in from the consumers. Their game was broken, and terrible, terrible things were happening to the people who played it. Soon the company went into bankruptcy, and all remaining copies that were not released were destroyed. My advice to you: just keep playing it. Just keep playing it until you cannot play it anymore. The game will eventually crash for good and you will be able to stop these terrible things from happening to you. _

_I wish you guys the best of luck; please post more so we can know you're all right!_

Annie stopped reading the message and put down her phone on the couch. "It looks like all we can do is just to play the game," She said. I nodded.

"There's not much more we really _can_ do." I responded. "It's going to be really tough to keep playing, but we've got to try." She shook her head.

"I'm so sorry for bringing the game with me," she said, looking down at the floor. "I had no idea that all of this would happen." I moved over to her and gave her a hug.

"It's okay," I said. "However, we have to go back in there and stop this thing once in for all! But first, we need supplies." I knew just what to do. First to block that horrible screaming in case it happened again, I ran down the hall into the entry way and found two pairs of earmuffs. I tossed one to Annie, and she caught it and put it on. I put mine on as well. Next, we would need some things to protect ourselves if need be. We needed to be prepared for anything, so, Annie headed to the kitchen and grabbed a rolling pin from the cupboard, while I grabbed a skillet from the stovetop. We both nodded at one another in a silent confirmation. We were ready to go.

Annie's POV:

We inched down the hallway, wheeling the swivel chair with the stool balanced on top of it, wielding our weapons menacingly. I took off my earmuffs to see if the screaming was still continuing in the next room. To my surprise, all was silent. I looked over to May and motioned for her to take off her earmuffs.

"Did the screaming stop?" She asked. I nodded, and pointed towards the door.

"On the count of three, alright? Everything will be fine." I said. May nodded, and held her skillet like a baseball bat, ready to swing. "One." I said. "Two." I twisted the doorknob. "Three!" We burst into the office, and I threw the rolling pin onto the bed. It landed with a plop next to my suitcase, and I quickly put the stool down on the floor. May wheeled the chair into place, put down the skillet on the desk, and took the controls. The screaming had stopped, the darkness was gone, and the lobby was back on the screen.

"Here goes nothing," May said, and directed the character forward down the corridor. I noticed right away that something was off. Instead of the pixelated movie posters that lined the walls previously, they were replaced with images of the swirly head man! I gasped, and May jumped. She whipped her head around. "What is it?" She asked.

"Look at the posters!" I said. May moved closer to the screen and immediately drew back.

"Oh my god," she said, and quickly moved the character away from the walls. Soon, we began to approach the end of the first corridor. My stomach was twisted into knots anticipating what could happen. All of a sudden, the swirly head man appeared in the bottom corner of the screen with a sound effect that almost sounded like the scream cut off at the beginning. I jumped again, and May held down LSHIFT like her life depended on it. The character sprinted down the hallway, and the swirly head man appeared and disappeared quickly in various parts of the theater. He kept appearing in front of us, appearing behind of us, appearing in the far right hand corner, and with each time the same sound effect grew louder and louder. I was just about panicking. Thankfully, the next part of the stage loaded, and he was gone. The game was silent.

"Thank goodness that's over," I said, adjusting myself on the stool. May nodded shakily.

"The worst is probably coming up," she said. I knew she was right, but I didn't want to say anything. We inched down the hallway as the two dark corridors came into view. In front of the divide between the two corridors was the ticket taker, but was he _moving?_ May stopped moving, and the character stood there from afar, observing the ticket taker. The sprite was pacing, no, more like he was hopping from side to side in front of the two corridors, probably because the sprite wasn't supposed to move at all. May inched closer and closer, afraid if she went too quickly, something would happen. Soon we were close enough to see the sprite up close. His face had changed. He was not the swirly head man, but in place of the usual blank expression was a face that looked shocked. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was slightly open. It was really freaky, and May scooted back from the screen as far as she could go while still being able to control the game.

"Go closer to him," I urged May. "He doesn't look too menacing…" Right after those words escaped my mouth, I regretted them as May walked up to the ticket taker. She stopped right in front of him, and he stopped moving from side to side. He stood in the center of the divide between the two corridors, still looking left so that we could only see the profile of his face. The game was dead silent as he turned forward really slowly and stared right at us. He seemed to be staring right through the screen, and right at us. May and I froze up and stared at the ticket taker. Nothing happened, and we sat there immobile just like him. I was shaking, and I was really expecting the worst. I really wish I didn't leave the rolling pin on the bed. The ticket taker just stood there, with the same shocked expression on his face. On the bottom of the screen, a textbox appeared. **Press SPACEBAR to interact. **

May hesitated, before quickly pressing the spacebar. We were dead silent, and a thought bubble appeared over the sprites' head. N̴͚̱̘̲͖̮̣̭͠Ȩ̷͎̫͠V̖̳̪̙̤E̵͞҉͙̪̞̱͍ͅR̠̕ ̛͔̘̻̬̮̭͜͠Ṛ̛̱̻̗̟͕̕͝Ȩ͉̻̯͉̞̖̰̬À͙̺͞C̵̻̤̝̥͍͝H̵̜̟̟̮͙̥ ̨҉̬͕T̷҉͚̻̳̮͈̕H̸̥̟̻Ȩ̨̫̥͜ ̗͚͇̬̹O̞̠͓͇T̢̲̤̣H͓̱̘̫E҉̫̩̰̙R̴͈̠̩̹͇ ͝͏̫̪͍͖̣̗̜L҉͇̣͚̫̥̙͍͡ͅE̘̠͉̻̙͠ͅṾ̴̡̩̠̞̭̗͓̱͢E̸̘̣̻̦̩L̙̳̪͈͖̩̫͞S̮̮͙. At the same time, a new sound played out of the speakers. It was horrible sounding, it sounded like the standard sound clip of the ticket taker, only really corrupted. May and I completely freaked out and jumped to our feet as the ticket taker violently shook and disappeared. All of a sudden, a brick wall sprite appeared in front of the two open corridors, blocking them completely from view. The text bubble remained, however, as to remind us of the final message of the ticket taker. The game was silent, and nothing seemed to be moving or happening. "Well that's it, then?" I murmured, my voice shaking a little from relief.

"I guess that's it." May said, slumping back down at the desk once more and letting out a sigh. "Should we investigate what's behind that brick wall?" I shrugged.

"Surely there's no harm in it," I said. May obediently pressed up on the keyboard and the character moved towards the sprite of the brick wall. She got closer and closer, until the character walked right into it. At that exact moment, the picture warped and distorted, and random images from the game came into view, and they too were distorted. "What's going on?" Cried May, yanking her earmuffs over her ears and pressing her hands against them. I did the same thing, and with the rolling pin in hand, I prepared for the worst.

The title music was deafeningly loud, and it played the whole time until the program crashed. The desktop was back on the screen, and everything was silent once again.


End file.
